Abstract : This paper was first given at the “Undisciplined Knowledge? Franco-American Interdisciplinarity in the Humanities” Conference, a French Studies event held on March 2-3, 2007 at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. It explores how the seminar unfolds, from late 18th century Prussia to the 50-70s in France. Immediately, the term itself raises a problem: Seminar in German, seminar in English, séminaire in French, three words, almost same yet very different. Therefore, trying to define the seminar, one is necessarily confronted with its versatility, its inherent improperty, that leads to a will to establish typologies of the seminar. But is it possible to talk about the seminar without getting involved in a seminar about the seminar? Producer of an espace critique, the seminar challenges borders between fields, and compels us to take the floor, seminar-like.